Crime & Safety

Updated: Fleeing DUI Suspect Carjacks Family in Altadena

The suspect was later arrested, and none of the carjacking victims were injured in the incident Saturday night.

Update: The suspect has been identified as Luis Octavio Cortes, who stands at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, according to CHP.

Original: A DUI suspect broke free from CHP officers, busted through the glass front door of their station and carjacked a family in Altadena before being arrested Saturday night, according to officers at the CHP traffic center.

CHP offered this account:

Find out what's happening in Altadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The male suspect was brought into Altadena's CHP station after being involved in a crash, said Officer Ed Jacobs of the CHP. He was then subjected to a sobiety test, which Jacobs noted required officers to take off his handcuffs.

"Then he went ballistic," Jacobs said, adding that two officers were injured, one of them taken to the hospital with an ankle injury.

Find out what's happening in Altadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The fight started at 8:11 p.m., culminating with the suspect warding off Taser hits, breaking through the door of the station and eventually stealing a Ford F-150 pickup with two women and a young boy inside. He forced one of the women out, leaving the child and the other woman, who was pregnant, in the truck as he drove away.

The suspect was eventually apprehended 10 miles away in Lakeview Terrace, after he jumped out of the truck and ran into a house, ABC7 reports. The woman and the young boy were not injured.


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